New ICE recruit shoots DoorDash driver in Austin while off body camera
A recently hired ICE agent shot 28-year-old Venezuelan DoorDash driver Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez in Austin, and the agent was not wearing a body camera at the time.
In Austin, Texas, a 28-year-old Venezuelan DoorDash driver, Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, was shot by an ICE agent during an attempted traffic stop. The officer, a recruit hired the previous year, had been issued a body camera but was not wearing it when he fired, violating agency policy that requires cameras to be on during enforcement actions. Austin Police released video of Garcés Pérez’s arrest, while a second ICE agent’s body-cam footage showed the driver initially fleeing and nearly striking an officer before the shooting.
Garcés Pérez’s attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, criticized the lack of body-cam evidence and said the bullet remains in his neck, requiring hospital transfer. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the agent’s recent hire and lack of camera use, and DoorDash announced an internal probe. This incident follows a similar fatal shooting of a Mexican man by ICE in Houston two months earlier.
Why it matters
The case raises concerns about ICE enforcement practices, body-camera compliance, and the safety of immigrant workers.
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